An old associate of Dawood’s gang said the wanted gangster is upset that Sohail went about his dealings without keeping him or other seniors in the loop. His nephew’s arrest is a major “embarrassment” for Dawood, who, a source said, tried his best to keep Sohail at arm’s length from the law.

Sohail and two Pakistani nationals were arrested by the US’s dreaded Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in December 2015 after extradition from Spain, but Dawood and his cronies used all their might and connections to suppress the news to prevent Dawood’s “international image” from getting tarnished, sources were quoted to have said.

Sohail, alias Ali Danish, is Dawood’s deceased younger brother Noora’s older son. Sources said Dawood has engaged a top lawyer for Sohail, who, if convicted, can face a maximum sentence of life in jail and a mandatory minimum term of 25 years in prison.

The lawyer, Tom Keniff, is representing him in the Manhattan federal court, which charged him in December 2015 for supplying surface to-air missiles to FARC and for bringing drugs, mainly heroin, into the US from Pakistan.

Sohail and the Pakistani nationals, identified as Pirzada Hameed Chisti, alias Benny, and Abdul Wahab Chisti, alias Angel, were arrested in Spain in June 2014 on the request of the US government. After extradition, they were taken into custody by the DEA’s New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force.

According to the allegations contained in the indictment and the underlying complaint at the Manhattan court, from 2013 till the date of their arrests, the two Pakistani nationals and Sohail participated in a conspiracy to import heroin into the US, to distribute the drug, and to support FARC.

During meetings in Spain and elsewhere, the trio agreed to sell large quantities of heroin to individuals they believed were from FARC, but who in reality were undercover DEA agents. Sources said there is a tapped conversation in which Hameed Chisti can be heard forwarding Sohail’s bank account information to an undercover DEA officer to facilitate payment for SAMs.

According to the indictment, in April 2014 the Chishtis arranged for the delivery of a kilogram of heroin to the undercover DEA agents in the Netherlands, for transport to the US. After enough proof, the Chishtis and Sohail were arrested.